Member Pipeline - Regulatory - Alert (RA 01-07)
| To: | Members & Affiliates |
| From: | National Office |
| Date: | April 2, 2001 |
| Subject: | EPA Report on National Investment in Municipal Wastewater Treatment |
| Reference: | RA 01-7 |
AMSA is pleased to provide you with a copy of the Executive Summary of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report entitled Progress in Water Quality: An Evaluation of the National Investment in Municipal Wastewater Treatment (EPA-832-R-00-008). Although dated June 2000, the report only recently became available in printed form.
The report documents the dramatic water quality benefits achieved by the more than 16,000 publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) across the country. It emphasizes the role of the Construction Grants Program, which provided $61.1 billion in federal grants to local authorities from 1972 through 1995 to help support the planning, design, and construction of POTWs to meet clean water regulations and standards. Since 1988 the program also provided more than $16 billion to the states under the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Loan Programs as capitalization grants to support a wide range of water quality improvement projects.
Notably, the report cites the Water Infrastructure Network's assessment of the need for investments in water and wastewater infrastructure funding, one of AMSA's priority issues for this Administration (Executive Summary, page 7). EPA's report estimates that unless investment is made in wastewater infrastructure, by the year 2016 effluent loading rates of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) will be similar to those experienced in the mid-1970s. EPA's citation of WIN's report is a compliment to AMSA's role in documenting our infrastructure needs.
Progress in Water Quality presents a unique look at POTW contributions to improving water quality. The report should be useful to you in your efforts to convey to your neighbors both your agency's specific progress and overall water quality gains nationwide. The full Progress in Water Quality report contains 13 chapters in addition to the Executive Summary, and can be found on EPA's web site at: http://www.epa.gov/owm/wquality/index.htm. For additional information on water infrastructure funding and copies of WIN's reports, Clean Water in the 21st Century and Water Infrastructure Now, visit AMSA's website at www.amsa-cleanwater.org.
If you have any questions, please contact Lee Garrigan at AMSA at 202/833-4655 or lgarrigan@amsa-cleanwater.org.